New taipei: The New Taipei District Court agreed late Thursday to a motion by prosecutors to detain three people involved with cosmetic chain Airlee Group Co., Ltd. after a recording device was found inside a smoke detector at the company's Banqiao branch. At the detention hearing Thursday night, the court ruled that Airlee Chairman Chang Ju-shan, a special assistant surnamed Chang, and a supplier surnamed Hsieh should be detained and held incommunicado.
According to Focus Taiwan, the court reached its conclusion after finding that the three individuals posed flight risks or could collude with accomplices or witnesses, or destroy, forge, or alter evidence. Prosecutors said a fourth suspect, a general manager surnamed Liu, did not need to be detained and was released on bail of NT$5 million (US$156,000), with restrictions on overseas travel and leaving Taiwan. The suspects in the case are believed to have committed sexual privacy violations, offenses against privacy, and violations of the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act by filming customers without their consent.
On Wednesday, the New Taipei City Prosecutors Office instructed police to search four Airlee branches in the city, including those in Banqiao, Xinzhuang, Linkou, and Yonghe. The three main suspects were initially taken in for questioning that day before prosecutors filed motions to formally detain them.
Some customers at Airlee's Banqiao branch formed a self-help group and gathered outside the clinic on Thursday to negotiate refund terms and compensation procedures. Several customers said the incident had affected their personal lives and work, indicating that they had suffered insomnia and emotional distress out of fear that footage of them could be leaked. Airlee said in a Facebook post on Thursday that customers seeking refunds would need to apply online and visit the clinic in person with documentation for verification.
The developments followed a Threads post on May 1 in which a customer said she noticed a smoke detector that appeared to hide a recording device. Though clinic staff insisted it was only a smoke detector, she reported it to police. When she returned with officers, they opened the device and found a recording unit connected to a power source.
Police detained Hsieh in Taichung on Sunday and alleged that he had driven from Taipei to remove recording devices installed at 10 branches at someone else's direction. Prosecutors said they had found multiple videos of alleged victims from the main recording system and cameras they seized. Traces of a removed surveillance camera were also found on the ceiling of one branch in Kaohsiung, while another branch in the city had a functioning surveillance camera in a treatment room, the Kaohsiung City Health Bureau said in a press release Wednesday.
As of Friday morning, more than 10 people had filed police reports in connection with the case, the New Taipei authorities said.